ASTRONOMY CLUB OF TULSA

ACT, Inc. has been meeting continuously
since 1937 and was incorporated in 1986. It is a nonprofit; tax
deductible organization dedicated to promoting, to the public, the art
of viewing and the scientific aspect of astronomy.

What & When

Club Star
Party - July 25, 2002 at 7:30 P.M.

Where

Club
Observatory near Mounds, OK.

It is best to arrive before
sundown. If you arrive after dark remember to dim your lights since some
may be taking photos.

Astronomical
League

2003 Mid-States
Region

Astronomer Of
The Year

(Click on
image for larger view)

President’s Message

Denny Mishler

The MSRAL 2003
Convention has ended as a big success. Thanks to the efforts of Chairman John
Land and Vice Chairman Aaron Coyner and more than a dozen
helper bees from our club, we were able to carry out one of the best
regional convention of the Astronomical League that I have ever attended;
and I've attended quite a few. With the heaviest registration coming in
the last two weeks, we pushed well above our expectations of 80 to 100,
and reached 113 amateurs who came from Omaha, St. Louis, Kansas City,
Springfield, Little Rock and many smaller towns in between. Both Dr.
Clay Sherrod (one of our featured speakers) and vendor Rex McDaniel
(Astrostuff.com) told me that this was one of the best organized
Astronomy conventions that they have attended too. Congratulations to our
club member and past president K.C. Lobrecht, who won the 2003
MSRAL Amateur Astronomer of the Year Award. K.C.'s dedication to our
club, to our observatory, to educating others, and to gaining the
achievement of "Master Observer" of the Astronomical League made
her a most deserving award winner.

As things heat up
in the middle of the summer, red hot Mars begins rising earlier each day.
At our next Club Star Party on Friday JULY 25TH, Mars will be rising
before 11pm. This will be a great time to look at Mars through many
different scopes and judge for yourself who has the best views. Remember,
if it's a 100 degree day it will cool off at RMCC once the sun sets, and
if there is any kind of breeze it will be quite comfortable during
darkness. If June's Star Party is any indication, come early as the
observatory grounds fills up fast with overflow parking available at the
AT&T building next door.

Clear skies,

Denny Mishler
Club President

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Tentatively scheduled dates below are bracketed with
question marks. The number of persons expected is in parenthesis.

Mars continues approaching the Earth and it is a really
nice object in backyard telescopes now. The first few days in July there
was a large dust storm going on in the Hellas Basin that was easily seen
in a six-inch scope as an oval disk over the area. Since then the dust
storm has subsided and the Hellas Basin is clear. The south polar cap has
been melting and it changes in appearance every few days. The best time to
view the planet is still between Midnight and dawn, but by the middle of
August it should be up by 10p.m. It's not hard to locate as it is the
brightest object in the sky now, close to -2 Mg. and it has an orange-red
glow to it. On the morning of July 17, the planet came within 10 minutes
of the moon, a beautiful view with both objects in the same telescopic
view. This was a great photo opportunity and hopefully some of our members
were able to get some great pictures from the event. The Astronomy Club of
Tulsa will be holding a Mars Watch for the public on September 5 with a
rain date of September 6th. This could be a huge event and we will need
every member's scope available. Start making plans for this event. The
location has not been determined as of this writing but the site committee
has visited several good sites and hopefully details can be worked out
soon.

Mars rise times for Tulsa through August 27:

July 29

Distance from earth-39 million miles Mg. -2.3
Rises-10:23p.m.

Aug 12

Distance from earth-36 million miles Mg. -2.6 Rises
-9:27p.m.

Aug 27

Distance from earth-34 million miles Mg. -2.9 Rises
-8:20p.m.

It will be in Aquarius.

The MSRAL/Summer ACT Observing Challenge list is now on
the website. You have until the end of September to complete to qualify
for the Observing Certificate. I also have a few copies of the list that
have charts showing the location of each deep sky object that will be
available at the next star party.

Congratulations to Tom McDonough who recently
received his Double Star Club certificate. He was the 206th person to
achieve the feat. There are several members that are working on various
observing clubs. The newest club is the Comet Observers Club and the first
recipient is actually the initiator of the club, Dr. Eric Fleischer
from the Astronomical Society of Kansas City. I know this is one I will
achieve eventually. How about you? Get out there and observe.

On a bleak note, my truck was broken into and my Orion
8x56 binoculars were stolen and my Sky Catalogue 2000 sky charts which
were in a blue carrying case. If anyone tries to sell you these or you see
them in a pawnshop please let me know.

I am also selling my 6-inch reflector with mount, solar
filter, led sight finder, and 2 eyepieces and a Barlow lens, and
collimator for $200.00 or best offer for any interested. I will have the
scope at the star party. It makes a great sunspot scope as well as planets
and deep sky viewing. The outside of the scope is worn but the optics are
great.

Here is a little ditty to think about. It has something
to do with astronomy:

Our MidStates
Convention was a great success. I would like to extend my thanks once again to
all those you gave of their time and talents to make it a success. We had 113
people who registered for the convention and attended one or both days. We had
many emails congratulating us on such a great convention. The League's
Selection for the Astronomer of the Year was our own K.C. Lobrecht!
Our club's share of the profits was $ 578.65 Next year's convention will be
nearby in Springfield, Missouri so set aside a weekend in June to be a part of
that. Our Webmaster Tom McDonough has posted several pictures of the
convention happenings at the MSRAL website. Also you can download the official
group picture if you didn't get your copy. John Land also has printed versions
of the group picture available. http://www.astrotulsa.com/MSRAL2003/2003MSRAL.htm

Regional Star Parties
coming up.

July 27 to Aug 1
- Nebraska Star Party held in western Nebraska on Lake Merritt
Reservoir located at 420 N and 1000 W. In addition to night time skies dark
enough to see 7.5 magnitude stars, day time activities include boating,
fishing, swimming and hiking. RV hookups are available. Registration is $25
for Adults. Due to the late date you can print off the registration forms
online and call their hotline for information to reserve your registration.
Doug Bell at 402-489-8197. See their excellent website including a 180 degree
panorama at http://www.nebraskastarparty.org/

Sept 21 to Sept 28
- Okie-Tex Star Party. Nearly 300 astronomers make the annual trek to
the remote Black Mesa at the far tip of the Oklahoma panhandle area making it
one of the leading astronomy gatherings in the nation. You'll marvel at the
vast expanse of the Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon. . You'll
need to be prepared of the extremes of temperatures that can occur in the dry
air climate from searing daytime highs to frosty nights beneath the stars. As
many as 30 Tulsans this Starlight pilgrimage 410 miles to the west so ask
around if you need to carpool. Registration is $40 adults. Get you
registration in early as they may have to put a limit on the numbers that may
attend. http://www.okie-tex.com/

Congratulations to Gary
Buckmaster for completing his Lunar Observing Certificate.

Address
corrections: Every month we get several newsletters returned due to faulty
addresses. Check your address label to see if it needs changes and send us an
address change if you move. Also on your address label you will see the month
that your membership dues expire.

Email Addresses.
Each month the club newsletter is posted on the web and the highlights of the
newsletter sent out over email. During the past month fast breaking news about
sunspots, observing Mars and dust storms on Mars have been sent out. If you
have not been receiving these we do not have a valid email address for you. If
you would like to added to our email list send us your NAME - and Email
address with subject - Astronomy Club email list to membership@astrotulsa.com.
Astronomy club mass emails are sent out as Blind copy so that your email
address does not appear on the receiver's copy. This is done to help minimize
SPAM mail. While I'm on the subject of Preventing Spam Email - The astronomy
club gets dozens of emails each month many from people we do not know. If I
don't see a SUBJECT LINE that tells me it's about astronomy club you may get
deleted as potential SPAM mail. If you send an Email tell us in the Subject
Line - Topic - and Your Name. An unsigned - no subject email from roadkill@----.com
is sure to be deleted even if you had a serious question. On the subject of
SPAM mail, this month's consumer reports reviews the best products for
decreasing the amount of junk email you receive.

PRICES are going up
for Sky & Telescope The annual subscription price for Sky & Telescope
is going up to $ 33.00 per year. If you still have your notification for the
old rate of $30 send it in with your check ASAP to save $ 3 on next year's
subscription if not you will need to pay the higher rate. In my opinion

S&T is still a
great buy even at the higher rate.

Our membership
chairman, John Land, is keeping our membership records on a computer
spreadsheet. If you see errors or make any changes in your address or E-mail
please keep us informed. Contact John Land, astroland@gbronline.com,
or Phone 357-1759.

You may make Renewals
and changes at any club meeting or mail a check to

Astronomy Club of Tulsa
25209 E 62nd St
Broken Arrow, OK 74014

Note: Sending your check
to the club mailbox may delay processing several weeks.

Club Membership: Adults
$25 and Students $15 per year.

Check your mailing
label to see when your club dues expire. Renewal forms are available on the
club Internet site.

Magazine
Subscriptions: You can get substantial discounts for Sky & Telescope and
Astronomy magazine by ordering thorough the Astronomy Club. If your magazines
are coming up for renewal, try to save the mailing label or renewal form you
get in the mail.

Guess what I got to
do tonight? Edmund and the Friday night gang decided to take me up on an
off-the-cuff offer and go see the telescopes at Dark-Sky observatory! We
walked up and there were the 3 domes and the usual sprinkling of guys with
scopes in the courtyard. I turned to my friends and said "Welcome to my
world, this is how I grew up!"

They were awe struck.
I walked into the general crowd, and then they caught up to me "what do
we do, how does this work?"

Well I told them; you
usually walk up to a telescope and get in line. So I demonstrated. "What
do you have here? " and then the regular astronomer would say, "This
is M15 it is a globular cluster, a grouping of stars. It doesn't look like
much, mostly a fuzzy ball, but..." and then you look through. "ooohh,
ahh", they all said. Edmund was impressed with "all those little
twinkly things"

Me, I usually went
to, "so is this a 6 inch? What kind of filter are you using"?

I got to go along
because I speak fluent astronomer.

As we were heading up
the hill I told them the little story of Messier and the "100 some fuzzy
objects which are not comets" so they were prepared for M this and M
that, and also for the idea that most things looked like fuzzy balls.

On their own they
discovered, "if you go in this dome building and stand in a long line you
can see something" Apparently the length of the line is proportional to
the excitement of the destination. In this case it was the Ring Nebula. I let
them go thru the line while I scouted out what else was on hand tonight. When
they got out I asked them, "was it green or blue this time?"

"Uh gray"
Tammy said.

So they asked me what
other lines they should do, "well, that other dome has the moon..."

They were excited
about that! Me, I like to save a nearly full moon for last, but hey, they
liked it!

The third, new dome
scope is a Cassegrain classic reflector. I have never seen such a wide,
squatty telescope. It was interesting to me, odd looking though. I shall have
to redo my telescope classifications.

Later we sat and just
looked around. Tammy and Marianne saw what I think was one of those rolly
satellites. It was faint, slow, and every so often it would
"explode" with a bright flash and then fade to almost invisible. I
remember seeing something like that once upon a time, and you telling me it
was a satellite that had solar collectors or mirrors and was spinning so that
the sunlight bounced off the mirror causing it to "flash". Tammy was
thrilled and I looked intelligent, even if I may not have been correct. It
seemed like a logical explanation considering I didn't even see it until it
was almost gone.

Later I snuck a quick
look at the Ring. It has always been one of my favorites, but I wanted to let
those who'd never seen it go first.

As we waited to see
Alberio in a 6-inch box reflector like you made Grandma, I told Tammy the ring
was a tad green. Others didn't believe I could see color on some of these
things. I just told them I had "astronomer eyes". Ed said he
couldn't see the colors of Alberio, but he enjoyed the "sparkly
things" just as well. Tammy says she could barely. It was rather tiny,
but I could tell.

A fine time was had
by all. I was amazed. You will be amazed and jealous that the road to the
observatory is well paved. I thought of you.

It is almost odd how
every gathering of astro-folks has the same kinds of people. Almost like a
stereotype, or maybe an archetype/ astrotype. There are the
"intelligential" astronomers who pursue their own stuff, while
letting the public join in. The "regular" types who will show you
anything and tell you all about it. The "out-there" ones like
(notorious Astronomer deleted) or such that is just a bit odd or obsessed.
This one also had another group. "Parrots" They were young folks who
worked for Dark-Sky, and ran the 16-inch scope. They explained everything to
the public, but they did not really "know" it. An astronomer would
come and tell them "this is a ...globular cluster, it orbits off the
galaxy ring and is made up of x number of stars. It is x number years old
etc." Stuff the public would be interested to know but if you asked them
the name of it, they couldn't tell you. "This is a double star, made up
of ... whatever system" Which star? I asked. um.. He knows- pointing to
the astronomer. They are maybe like pinochole- someday maybe they will grow up
and be a real astronomer, but for now it is not "theirs" They are
good for public parties though.

Janice

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